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This series of articles covers scholarly works in English which can, at least potentially, be associated with a generally positive view of biblical historicity regarding periods preceding the Israelites’ return from exile. Part 2 covers works that treat the methodological issues at the center of the maximalist–minimalist debate. Parts 2.1 and 2.2 selectively survey the works of 24 non-minimalist scholars during two decades. In the absence of consensus, this article analyzes the works in Parts 2.1 and 2.2, tracing elements of approach that are held in common, at least among pluralities of non-minimalists (possible majorities are not noted). The first commonality of approach is that history is provisional, not final. The second is that history should become fully multidisciplinary. The third commonality is that historians should receive all historical evidence on an equal footing before examination and cross-examination. The fourth and last is that historians should become increasingly sensitive to cultural aspects and coding in ancient Near Eastern materials.

This is a list, with end-note documentation, of 53 people in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament who are strongly identified in published inscriptions of known authenticity, in most instances from during or quite close to their lifetimes. It includes people from ancient Egypt, Moab, Aram-Damascus, the northern kingdom of Israel, the southern kingdom of Judah, Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia. The intent is to include only well-grounded, strong identifications that can be trusted. Mykytiuk's publications firmly reject the haphazard, "flying by the seat of the pants" approach of numerous online lists which are created without explicit criteria or by suspect use of ad hoc criteria, all of which easily produce results that are desired but often questionable at best, or in some instances based on forgeries, rather than winnowed by rigorous critique. The list is the result of applying the protocols and identification criteria established in Mykytiuk’s published dissertation, Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200‒539 B.C.E. (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004), as amended by his article, “Corrections and Updates to [that title],” Maarav 16.1 (2009): 49–132. The identification protocols, criteria, and some early results are summarized and further updated in his book chapter, "Sixteen Strong Identifications of Biblical Persons (Plus Nine Other Identifications) in Authentic Northwest Semitic Inscriptions from before 539 B.C.E.," in Meir Lubetski and Edith Lubetski, eds., New Inscriptions and Seals Relating to the Biblical World (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012), 35-58.z

Using established criteria, this article identifies nine persons mentioned in the book of Jeremiah and two high priests in 1 Chronicles, all of whom were contemporaries of Jeremiah. These persons are identified with virtual certainty in inscriptions of known authenticity contemporaneous with that prophet. Some these inscriptions came to light as recently as 2005 and 2008. Authentic bullae from excavations in the City of David refer to several Hebrew people named in the Bible. These are: Gemaryahu the king’s minister and his father Shaphan the scribe, Yehukal the king’s minister and his father Shelemyahu, Gedalyahu the king’s minister and his father Pashḥur, and two high priests: Azaryahu and his father Ḥilqiyahu. A well-known neo-Babylonian cuneiform tablet lists two courtiers of Nebuchadnezzar II who are also mentioned by name and title in the book of Jeremiah: Nergal-sharezer the samgar official and Nebuzaradan the rab-ṭabāḥîm (variously translated as “captain of the guard” and “chief cook”). Nebuzaradan oversaw the exile to Babylonia. Finally, a recently-translated neo-Babylonian clay tablet records a temple offering made by a third official of Nebuchadnezzar II, Nebo-sarsekim the rab-saris, to whom the book of Jeremiah also refers by name and title. “If the authors of the book of Jeremiah had not intended to produce such historically accurate work as they did, these precise identifications would be inexplicable” (p. 61*). Identifications of officials reach a level of detail that has even greater credibility than identifications of the five kings in the book of Jeremiah also named in ancient inscriptions.

This revised conference paper presents the strongest results of the author's published dissertation as corrected and updated in a journal article published in 2010 and as updated using a 2011 essay. In Northwest Semitic inscriptions which are known to be authentic, using sound protocols, one can identify with certainty at least ten persons from before the Persian era who are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Another six such persons can be identified with virtual certainty, for a total of sixteen strong identifications (IDs). Five other authentic inscriptions offer an additional seven IDs which, while not quite certain, are at least reasonable IDs and can be used as hypotheses. A provenanced wall inscription offers two other IDs whose historical value is unclear. Inscriptions in other languages and of other time periods increase the number of IDs of persons in the Hebrew Bible.

This article does two things. First, it corrects things in the book, Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 B.C.E. (2004), abbreviated IBP below: • Regarding potential forgeries, the article applies the principles for treatment of unprovenanced inscriptions set forth in Christopher A. Rollston, “Non-Provenanced Epigraphs II: The Status of Non-Provenanced Epigraphs within the Broader Corpus of Northwest Semitic,” Maarav 11 (2004): 71–76. • It disqualifies proposed IDs in eight (8) inscriptions that are forgeries or probable forgeries, notably including the two bullae frequently attributed to the biblical Baruch. Second, it evaluates 32 proposed identifications (IDs) of biblical persons in inscriptions of 1200-539 B.C.E. Doing this updates the book, IBP, from its original coverage through mid-2002, to July 31, 2008. In order to evaluate these proposed IDs, it uses the protocols set forth in the book, IBP, pp. 9-89. Resulting IDs and non-IDs appear in six categories of strength or weakness, from unmistakable to disqualified. • Constructively, it makes eleven strong, reasonable, or possible IDs of biblical persons in provenanced Northwest Semitic inscriptions and two reasonable IDs in inscriptions written in other languages (one in Egyptian hieroglyphics and one in Babylonian Akkadian). • It gives page-by-page corrections to the book, IBP, if they affect IDs. These corrections end with a summary of the results of the book as corrected by this article on pp. 125-126. A summary and an index only of the results in the article appear on pp. 126-132.